


The Family Dynamics of Bats, Birds, and Their Associated Stalkers of the Night

by saphiradrake



Category: DCU (Comics), Red Hood and the Outlaws (Comics)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Bat Family, Codependence, Dark fluff, Dysfunctional Relationships, F/F, F/M, Family Dynamics, Fluff, Jealous Bruce Wayne, M/M, Metahuman Original Female Character, Multi, Overprotective Damian Wayne, Overprotective Jason Todd, Polyamory, Rewriting Canon, Weird family dynamics, but not really, its more that they’re close and have a stunning lack of boundaries, the league of assassins bred some seriously tight bonds
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-26
Updated: 2019-10-30
Packaged: 2020-03-13 09:21:12
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 15,344
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18938035
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/saphiradrake/pseuds/saphiradrake
Summary: Jason Todd brings home the one person he needs to keep safe above all others, the woman who holds his heart. With her introduction to the family comes complicated emotions, newly revealed secrets, and a jealous Batman.Okay so I realize that the summary sounds kind of dark and twisty but this fic is mostly fluffy batfam, batbro bonding, Jason and Damian getting all the love they need, and some smut mixed in for good measure.





	1. Favors and Leaps of Faith

It was one of the last sunny October days when Jason's bike came tearing down the driveway to Wayne Manor, skidding sideways as he braked hard, spraying gravel towards the front door and windows. He kicked the stand out and marched up to the door. Jason still didn't like coming to the Manor unless it was about a mission or for tea with Alfred, he always felt like the pit was riding him harder the minute he saw the house, even though he was twenty-six and had been back in Gotham for nearly eight years, Bruce still triggered the pit's urges inside him more often than he didn't. but this was important, for the life he was building and admittedly for his sanity. So squaring his shoulders, taking a deep breath and pushing through the front door Jason went in to see Bruce.

 

If it hadn't been one of his civilian bikes Bruce would have been worried that Jason had been dealing with one of the rogues and was injured, but watching from his office window Bruce could see that Jason was fine, clearly stressed, but physically fine. Bruce still felt hollow when he looked at Jason sometimes, his son was alive, living, breathing, fighting, but he ached for the days when Jason was young and would allow Bruce to hold him tight, to protect him. When Jason died parts of Bruce had died with him but even with him back the loss of his son, the way Jason's body had been so small in his arms still haunted him, it didn't help matters that Jason still reacted so badly to him most of the time. But the question now was what had Jason on edge enough that he would come to the manor in the middle of the day presumably to seek help.

 

"Master Jason, have I forgotten our tea time?" Alfred knew full well that it was not, but Jason arriving unannounced at the manor demanded questions.

"Nah Alf I'm here to see B." Jason smiled ruefully at Alfred, last time he'd shown up unannounced it had been to deck Bruce for lying to him about a mission he couldn't blame Alfred for being surprised to see him.

"Will I be spending the afternoon scrubbing blood off the Persians again Master Jason?" Alfred's tone was as cool as could be and was accompanied by narrowed eyes and one pointedly raised eyebrow.

"Not unless he's a total ass about everything."

Alfred gave an unimpressed sniff, "Very well Master Jason I suppose that will have to suffice. Master Bruce is in his office upstairs."

"Thanks Alf." Jason turned and marched up the stairs like a man preparing to face his executioner.

 

With a sigh that felt like it had come all the way from his toes Jason rapped his knuckles against the thick oak door to Bruce's office, this was going to suck ass and not in the fun way, he hated asking Bruce for favors, they always came with Spanish inquisition levels of interrogation. Okay just remember that this is for Irina, the woman you love and that your not leaving till he agrees to let us stay here.

"Come." 

Into the belly of the beast then, "Bruce."

"Jason." 

Bruce was carefully blank, it always set Jason's teeth on edge the way he did that, he'd hated it when he was robin and he hated it now. But he was here to make nice because he needed Bruce to be agreeable. Better to get straight to the point "I need a favor." the words tasted exactly as bitter as he'd expected them too. However there was a victory in the way Bruce actively startled at the blunt statement. 

"What is it?" Bruce felt unprepared he'd been ready for a fight or an argument not his son coming to him without any ulterior agendas or run-arounds though clearly it had been like walking over broken glass to get the words out, Bruce was just glad that Jason felt he could come to him. This was a victory, maybe they were starting to make progress beyond just Jason not actively trying to kill his brothers and Bruce.

"I need to come back to the Manor, to live here again. And I need you to accept the woman I'm engaged to, Irina, and let her live here too. She's why I'm asking to come back, Rina (reenuh) is... vulnerable right now and I need her to be safe if I'm off world." Bruce's first question is none of the ones Jason had expected in fact it was what he'd figured Bruce would be the least concerned with. 

"You're engaged?"

"Yes."

"For how long?"

"Three months, but we've been together for over two years."

"I see." It was bad enough to know that Jason didn't really trust anyone in the family apart from Cass, but to have had his son hide a two year long relationship, an engagement, that pained Bruce like a physical blow, because he knew if Jason didn't feel that this Irina was in danger he never would have told Bruce or probably anyone else. Except perhaps Alfred. For once both sides of himself were demanding the same thing that he say yes, but there was one question that had to be asked first.

"Does she know."

"Yes, and before you ask I never told her she knew when we met."

"How." 

There's the inquisition I've been waiting for. "Irina was in the League of Assassins, she was one of Ra's elite."

Bruce kept his face carefully blank there were a million questions he wanted to ask but this was Jason, Jason actually reaching out for help so there was only so far he could push. "Does she still kill for Ra's."

"No."

"Then she can stay here."

That... was not how Jason thought this would go, he'd been expecting a fight that would end with a resounding no, that he'd have to go to Alfred or just show up with her to force B to accept them. "I'll go get her and pack up, we'll come tomorrow morning." and with that he marched out of the office.

Bruce put his head in his hands with a sigh once Jason was out of sight. His son was marrying an elite assassin, who was apparently vulnerable at the moment, either Jason was being paranoid or there was a threat he wasn't ready to disclose against her. Well he had until tomorrow to call everyone not on a critical op home to meet her and to help research her, that would have to be enough for now.


	2. Meet the Family

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A discovery of secrets long hidden

The drive up to the manor was tense, Jason was gripping the steering wheel tightly enough that his knuckles were white and that the wheel itself was creaking ominously. The car was packed full of their things, Rina had talked him out of packing up the kitchen after all nothing they owned was going to be better that Alfred's supplies. So all they'd packed were clothes, Rina's jewelry, and their collective weaponry. 

When Jason had come home from the manor the day before he'd been anxious, the pit gnawing at his insecurities and fears, he knew that he'd been driving her insane and that this was the best way to assuage his anxieties and paranoia. But there was a niggling fear in the back of his mind that she wouldn't agree to go. Rina had been frustrated with him, how overprotective he'd been lately, she valued her freedom deeply and this was unquestionably going to impose an extreme set of restrictions on her, on them both, but Jason would live with that if it meant she was safe. He'd come home to find her sitting in their bedroom labeling boxes of their neatly packed things. She looked at him with the same soft smile that always meant forgiveness and acceptance when he'd come back from running away to Roy and Kori after their few major fights. 

Once they'd left Gotham and were nearing the manor in Bristol Jason's tension was all but palpable, "Jay," Rina set her hand lightly over his shoulder. "We'll be fine, they're your family. Bruce agreed to let me stay even knowing that I work with Ra's."

"I know, I just hate that they're going to be judging us and the way we are together." 

Keeping her tone soothingly soft was always the way to handle Jace when he got worked up over his family. "They'll be happy that your happy Jay, you told me that they want you back in the family, even Damian."

"Yeah, yeah I know. Just like you know that Bruce isn't going to handle your history with Damian well."

"I don't expect him to."

"I also might have implied that you don't work with Ra's anymore.

"Jason!" she allowed the irritation in her tone to seep through. "How well do you think that's going to go when he finds out you lied about the depth of my involvement with the League."

"I figured by the time he finds out he'll be distracted by your bond with demon and the fact that your a uniquely powerful metahuman."

"You know sometimes I think your more trouble than your worth Jason Todd."

"Yeah but you love me."

"God help me but I do."

"Here we go." Wayne manor, it always seemed oppressive even when I'd been robin but here we are back in the clutches of the bat. At least the darkness shouldn't bother Irina having spent most of her life in Nanda Parbat.

"Ready Jace?"

"As I'll ever be."

Jason went around to open the SUV door and lift Irina out. 

"We'll be fine Jason, Bruce doesn't scare me and neither do your siblings. Alfred on the other hand, I worry about." That at least made Jason smile,

"Alf is scarier than B I'll give you that."

I slipped my hand into his and lead him up to the door. "Just remember if Bruce really pisses you off we'll just have really loud sex to torture him." 

Jason snorted "Okay now I'm ready." he gripped her hand tightly and together they walked up the stairs to the imposing double doors. Jason took a deep breath and rang the bell.

 

Alfred opened the door not three seconds later, sometimes Jason wondered if he was psychic or just that good.

"Master Jason, welcome home. You must be Miss Irina, forgive me I would normally address you by your last name but Master Jason neglected to tell me yours."

"I really only go by Irina but when I have to list a last name I usually just give Jay's." Irina demurred, either Alfred wanted to do some digging of his own or Bruce had put him up to it.

"Very well, do come in Miss Irina." Alfred's tone was slightly cold at the way she'd sidestepped the question. "The family is waiting in the library, May I take your coat before we join them Miss."

"No, Thank you Mister Pennyworth I've been rather chilled this morning."

"Please call me Alfred, you are after all practically family. Shall I start a fire in your room Miss Irina?"

"No, thank you Alfred, I think Jason might actually melt if you did so. At home our battle over the thermostat is never-ending."

"In that case we should go to the library, Master Dick has been especially impatient in awaiting your arrival."

"Dickies here Alf?"

"Everyone but Miss Gordon is here Master Jason."

Jason tensed next to Irina, who squeezed his hand lightly, he smiled down at her before pulling her slightly behind him in a protective stance.

"Guess we better face the firing squad then."

Alfred wisely did not respond to that comment, although it was clear from his posture that he would have liked to.

 

 

"Their car pulled up ten minutes ago B shouldn't Alf have brought them in by now? And where's Dami?"

"Dick," Bruce's tone was pure exasperation, "I'm sure Alfred is bringing them now, Damian was supposed to come down twenty minutes ago to meet Irina, I'll send Alfred to get him once he brings Jason and Irina in." 

Dick had been bouncing between excitement at being allowed to meet Jason's fiancée and disappointment that Jason hadn't introduced her to him before now. Tim seemed rather neutral, other than Cass Tim worked with Jason the most out of any of them, and he had admitted that he'd suspected Jason had someone in his life since until the past month or so Jason had grown progressively more relaxed. Cassandra was lounging on one of the chaise lounges flipping through a picture book but her body language clearly implied that she was ready to fight if necessary. Bruce had been growing increasingly snappish since the night before when he'd been unable to find anything on an Irina in his databases on the League of Assassins.

Alfred opened the French doors into the library and Jason followed him in with a carefully blanked expression, his body clearly shifted to keep Irina behind him and out of sight.

Jason strode towards them with a black expression on his face stopping almost ten feet away from the amassed family. 

Once he'd stopped moving Irina stepped out from behind him. She was delicately built, appearing drastically so in comparison to Jason who was 6'4, he was nearly a full foot taller than her. Her skin was as pale as Tim's with slightly upturned green eyes in fact her eyes were so similar to Damian's that Bruce actually paused in his assessment of her. 

She and Jason were so drastically different that no one could stop themselves from contrasting the two of them. Where her skin was so shockingly pale she looked as if she'd been sitting outside in the snow for hours, Jason's skin seemed even more dramatically golden than usual. Her hair was a dark auburn that fell past her hips, Jason's was so black it looked nearly blue, save for the white streak just above his left eyebrow. Where Irina's frame was delicate, petite even, Jason's mass seemed even more hulking than usual, Jason had always been big but at 6'4 and nearly three hundred pounds of sheer muscle, he was stronger than Bruce at this point, and was broader across the chest than him even if he wasn't taller. Next to Jason she looked like a china doll, with her high cheekbones, full mouth and a strong jawline, she looked regal, elegant.

Bruce took a moment to study what she was wearing, she was dressed warmly in an emerald green coat that was gathered neatly around her waist and fell nearly to her knees, her hands were covered by soft brown leather gloves, similar to the ones Jason wore when he was the red hood except that these had fingers. She wore black leggings with a pattern of hunter green vines and dark purple flowers scrolling up her legs, paired with thick brown boots the same color as her gloves with, if his estimations were correct a nearly eight inch stiletto heel. A rich plum top peaked out of the top of her coat and a gold pendant sat just below her collarbone.

 Dick was unable to contain his excitement any longer and bounded over to Irina and swept her into a hug, pressing his cheek to hers. Almost as soon as his skin touched hers she stiffened and cried out, before Dick could even start to let go of her Jason ripped him bodily away from her and threw him into a couch.

Jason spun around to brace her as though he was worried her knees would go weak. "Rina! Are you all right?"

Resting her hands lightly against Jason's shoulders as he kneeled in front of her, Irina pushed herself back to standing. "I'm fine my love, it was just unexpected. His flexibility is actually improving my pain levels, although, growing the capoeira calluses so rapidly did leave my hands a little stiff."

Dick looked stricken, from his prone position on the couch, "Jay, I didn't mean to hurt her, you have to believe me!" Dick's tone was verging on desperate. "I just wanted to welcome her to the family properly, you know I hug everyone."

"It's perfectly alright Dick, you didn't hurt me I was just startled." Stepping around Jason to face the concerned and confused bats was clearly not a move Jason approved of, if the way he tried to draw her back behind him was any indication. "I'm a metahuman, you could describe what I do as touch transference or perhaps assimilation. When I touch someone skin to skin I... how to phrase it, I get a sort of transfusion of their genetics and abilities, I assimilate the strongest genetics into my own and gain all their latent and active abilities."

Everyone but Tim (who looked intrigued) seemed confused or in Bruce's case suspicious. "So your saying that you now have all of Dick's acrobatic abilities and fighting skills."

"Yes, that does sum it up quite neatly Mister Drake."

"Call me Tim, but you mentioned genetics, why would you need to as you described it assimilate genes, people don't generally develop there skills due to genetics."

"Jason told me you were smart, he didn't tell me you were intuitive. I usually only co-opt the genetics of the people I touch if they are decidedly extraterrestrial or if they're metahumans."

Bruce took Tim's momentary pause to process that information to interrupt. "If you met Superman, for example, would you gain his abilities through a single touch." 

"I have met Superman and I must say I really don't know how he tolerates the sensory input he experiences on a daily basis, I certainly wouldn't have been able to cope without the league's training."

"Wait so your Kryptonian?" 

"Only by the loosest possible definition Tim."

"Does kryptonite effect you?"

"It makes for a very pretty necklace, Jason felt it brought out my eyes.

"They glowed."

"I'm fairly certain that was just Kori's powers activating."

"It was pretty."

"As you say dear."

"So you're not only a metahuman, you're also an alien."

Irina's smile sharpened as she turned to look at Bruce. "You didn't think Ra's elite were entirely human did you Mister Wayne?" 

"It had crossed my mind." Bruce was watching her with hesitance, suspicion, if she had Clarks powers then she was a threat and that meant that he'd need to tread lightly. "Alfred would you go and get Damian."

"Of course Master Wayne."

Cass got up from the chaise she'd been perched on and approached Irina. "You love him."

"I would die for him."

Cass cocked her head to the left, "You would kill for him."

"Without question."

Cass responded with a nod, then quick as lightning reached her bare hand out and grasped Irina's neck. Irina stiffened body arching into Cass's grip, Cass wrapping one strong arm around her waist to support her body, before she to stiffened in readily apparent shock. Once Irina eased back down and was stable enough to stand Cass released her and tore her jacket open, slipping her hands inside to grasp Irina's stomach. "Pregnant." Cass's eyes darted between Irina's face and stomach. 

"Yes, Pregnant. That's why Jace wants us to live here, he's frightened someone will take our children from him."

"I will kill them." Cass's eyes were fierce with promised violence, and solemn in her oath, her voice soft as her hands stayed carefully cupped around Irina's stomach. 

"I know you will." Irina smiled as warmly as if Cass had promised to help decorate the nursery. Setting her hands on top of Cassandra's and rubbing lightly, before she eased back against Jason, who was stiff as a board.

Dick's eyes were all but glowing "I'm going to be an uncle?" 

"Yeah dick-face your an uncle now."

Before anyone else could formulate a response Alfred and Damian could be heard in the hallway. "Why should I have to meet Todd's girlfriend, and why is Father allowing some assassin from the league to stay here." 

"Master Damian, Master Jason believes she is under threat and thus will stay with us until that threat passes. And she is his fiancée so please at least try to be civil."

"Tt, it's not as if she'll be worth my time if she's engaged to Todd."

Damian and Alfred re-entered the library then. Irina had tensed as if preparing for a blow before turning to face Damian, surprisingly Jason allowed it without a struggle.

"Now is that any way to talk about your elders little one."

Damian, who had grown quite tall as he neared his eighteenth birthday and was of a comparable build to Dick though broader across the shoulders, dropped the teacup he'd been carrying , which shattered against the hard wood floors as he stood frozen. "Ama?" Damian's tone was both pained and undeniably hopeful, in the moment he sounded achingly young. 

"Dami." when she called his name, her voice took on a soft accent making Dami sound more like Dahmi. Without another moments hesitation Damian was barreling across the library floor before burying himself in her open arms, face pressed into the curve of her neck, fingers clutched in the back of her coat, his shoulders tight with emotion.

"Shh little one, it's alright." her long pale fingers threaded through his dark hair until he eased back from her embrace enough to press their foreheads together. Eventually she stepped back from him "Look at you Dami, I always knew you'd grow up strong and so handsome." Her right hand cupped his cheek as she rubbed her thumb against his cheekbone. Damian actually leaned in to the soft embrace, to the shock of everyone present, especially Bruce. Damian was usually so restrained when it came to physical contact that seeing him so clearly relish her touch caused both Bruce and Dick near physical pain. 

 "I thought I'd never see you again Ama." Damian's face darkened with old pain, "When mother took me away from our home I was so angry, I managed to slip away while we were in Hong Kong but when I got back you were gone, mother punished me for running but I had to try to get back to you. I tried to search for you when I got here but I didn't want to tell father about you, I..." Damian lowered his head in clear apology. "I thought he'd be angry that I wanted to go back to you."

"When I found out that she'd had that, that thing replace you after it killed you, I made sure that she could never hurt you again, after I forced her to bring you back." Irina's voice was hard even as her thumb traced soothing circles against Damian's cheek. "I was off world when you were killed, if I hadn't been it never would have happened, I would have killed the clone before it ever touched you."

"Ra's?"

"Knows better than to stand against me, and besides he always liked me better than Talia anyway."

Bruce finally found the voice to speak. "You killed her?"

"When I was done there was nothing left of her but blood and bone, she knew the price she would pay for taking Damian from me a second time. I'd made it very clear to her when she tore him away from me when he was ten." She looked Bruce dead in the eye without an ounce of remorse when telling him about Talia. 

Damian's voice broke the tension. "If you were in Gotham with Jason all this time why did you never come to find me?" 'why didn't you take me back' went unsaid but was heard by everyone present nonetheless, in the moment Damian typically so brash and self-assured sounded about as confident as an abandoned kitten.

Irina intertwined their hands and drew Damian onto one of the chaises that Martha Wayne had so greatly preferred. Bruce could remember his own mother sinking onto the chaise by the east windows and drawing him into her arms when he was upset, watching Irina draw Damian to her in the nearly the same way was like stepping into a memory.

"You needed your father Dami, you needed to become who I knew you could be, something more than just a highly trained killer. You wouldn't have been able to do that with me here, your father wouldn't have accepted me and I never would have supported the way he enforces his ludicrous morality."

"I could've handled it we could've--" Damian cut himself off abruptly with a look of consternation.

"Look at me little one," Irina placed her fore and third fingers under Damian's chin lifting his face to meet her's. "You were in a new country, being forced to change everything about yourself, if I'd been here you would have run to me every time you felt lost. You are my son, if you'd asked me to take you away from here I would have and I would've made sure your father could never find us. You wouldn't be who you are now if I'd stayed and you know that, you needed to fly and you couldn't while you were tied to the league." her tone was soft, warm, as she tried to soothe what was clearly an open wound. "Do you understand?"

Wide green eyes met her own "I understand Ama, how long are you staying at the manor?"

"Until the babies come."

Damian shot up from the chaise, "Your pregnant!?" And just like that the bubble they'd been inhabiting burst. Before Irina had the chance to respond Damian was whirling on Jason, "You impregnated my mother." That was nearly a growl "if you harm here in any way I shall slit your throat as you sleep, your death would not trouble me." 

"Damian! Enough. Jason and I will be married after your sisters are born, you will cease this ridiculousness at once." 

Damian's rage deflated within seconds of her command, his body straightening to attention. "Yes Ama."

"If I hurt her you better bring more than that pretty little blade to take me out demon brat."

"Tt, as if you could defeat me."

"Oh for the love of God, Jason, Damian, stop posturing at once, it is pointless and irritating, I do not have the patience for such things."

"Yes Ama."

"Sorry Rina."

"Okay then, look I'm sorry to interrupt this little reunion but why does Damian call you by one name and Jason another." Dick asked his tone managing to be both belligerent and upset.

Cass spoke first "Ama means Mother." 

Dicks mouth opened and closed like a fish out of water before he was finally able to form words. "Mother?! I thought Talia was Damian's mother."

"Talia provided my genetic makeup and little else. Ama raised me, carried me inside her for ten months and brought me into the world she is my true mother.

"You were a difficult baby, I labored for nearly twenty hours before you came into the world, and it nearly killed us both, but I remain hopeful that your sisters will come easier."

"You could have boys Rina."

"You can hope my love but I can feel in my bones that they'll be daughters and not sons." 

"May I suggest that we continue this inquisition over luncheon Master Wayne, it is important for expectant mothers to stay hydrated, rested, and well nourished.

"As you say Alfred."

Cass remained close behind Jason and Irina, falling into step with Damian. Tim seemed the most unmoved but that was mostly due to his impressive ability to blank all emotion and expression from both his face and body language. Dick caught Bruce by the arm as before they could follow into the dining room.

"B, did you know?" Dick's facial expression was pained they'd both had to fight so long to acclimate Damian, to get him to accept them as family that seeing him all but cling to this strange woman, who also held Jason's heart was difficult to say the least.

"If I'd known I would have warned you and Damian."

"It's just... I don't think he's ever been that open with us B, and its killing me a little that this, assassin who abandoned him for eight years gets to have parts of him we didn't know existed."

"She also raised him for the first ten years of his life and they both used the description torn away when they talked about the separation. I think it's safe to say that they didn't part willingly."

"But she's known where he is for eight years why not come back be a part of his life before now."

"Dick... I think we should be grateful that she didn't come back if we hadn't had eight years to drag him into the family I'd be worried that he'd leave us for her without a second thought. If Damian is reacting this strongly to her after so long, when we're all in a good place as a family, I shudder to think how fiercely he would have clung to her when he still felt that he had to fight for his place here."

"You sound almost grateful." 

"I'm not. There is a very large, very jealous part of me that wants nothing more than to send her away so she cannot take my sons from me, and if I didn't think I'd lose both Damian and Jason in the process then I'd consider it."

"I don't trust her."

"Because you're jealous or because she was with the League."

"I want it to be because she was in the League, but it's both, I don't want to lose my brother."

"The I suggest Master Grayson that you endeavor not to make Master Damian feel as if he has to choose a side." Alfred always managed to move without making any noise startling both Dick and Bruce. "Shall we adjourn to the dining room, the soup is getting cold." Without waiting for a response Alfred pivoted around and glided out the library doors.

"I guess that's our que to go make nice with the pregnant assassin in the dining room."

"Yes of all the things I was expecting discover today, the fact that I'm due to become a grandparent in the next several months wasn't one of them."

"Well you are getting old B."

"Yes, I expect I'll never hear the end of this from Clark."

"Nah its Diana you should be worried about. She's going to be ecstatic."

With a deeply resigned sigh Bruce started towards the dining room with dick trailing after him testing out names that he could presumably be called by once his grandchildren are born. Grandchildren dear God the manor will have to be baby-proofed and they'll need a nursery, as Bruce tuned out Dick's insane choices in names he wondered if hiring a qualified instructor to teach Lamaze classes at the manor would be overstepping. Hmmm well they had at least five months to set everything up going by her current size but better to be prepared.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope everyone reading this enjoys it! I think there're a couple good plot twists the family lunch is going to have Bruce and Dick struggling to contain their jealousy, the introduction of more relationships and the dynamics between Jason and Irina. Fyi pretty much everyone is polyamorous in this, so if that's not your cup of tea then this story probably isn't for you. Also I imagine Irina having a light Eastern European/Arabic accent kind of similar to Deanna Troi's accent in Star Trek TNG.
> 
>  
> 
> And yes I really did end this chapter with Bruce planning a nursery and Lamaze classes because the man may be the dark knight but he never got to hold any of his children as babies and if you think that isn't one of his biggest regrets you are sadly mistaken my friends.


	3. In Which Jealousy Flares, and The Family Grows Still Further

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I know this chapter is soooo beyond late but it is long, thank you to everyone who has left kudos on this story I really appreciate the support. Damian and Irina's relationship is kind of inspired by Bruce and Martha Wayne's relationship in teland's In love and madness it's amazing and if you like dark stories and really amazing (super kinky) smut then I absolutely recommend everything Te's ever written because they're all epic stories that I binge read.

Lunch was served in the family dining room, no one had sat down before Bruce and Dick joined them, Bruce sat at the head of the table with Dick at his right and Tim at his left. The table had ten seats, not including the seats at the heads of the table. Damian escorted Irina to the opposite end of the table, seating her at the head of the table opposite Bruce before seating himself at her right, Jason sat at her left and Cass situated herself firmly in the center chair between Jason and Tim. It was perhaps fair to say that they appeared to be a house divided, Dick looked torn between staying at Bruce's side or joining Damian at the other end of the table. Irina looked like she was fully prepared to hold court. Alfred had laid out the china with gold inlay that Martha Wayne had favored. 

The room was quiet as they waited for Alfred to serve lunch, Damian still looked like he would have preferred to be alone with Irina, Jason was noticeably tense, Cassandra was actively studying Irina and Dick was a seething pit of jealousy, Tim at least appeared blandly neutral. All in all it did not make for a particularly restful environment . 

When Alfred arrived with lunch Bruce let out an mental sigh of relief, perhaps they'd be able to get through the meal with meaningless small talk and polite questions. Lunch was served in a grand banquet style on beautiful platters and trays, everyone seemed content to eat in relative silence until Damian insisted on serving Irina's food, placing small portions of things he preferred on her plate. That was the final straw for Dick.

"So is no one going to talk about Damian all but hand feeding Irina." Damian turned beet red at the comment, clearly uncomfortable with the attention being drawn to his subconscious habit.

Before either Jason or Damian could respond with something undoubtedly antagonizing Irina rested thin pale hands over top of their wrists. "Damian always ordered and served our food when he was young, it is his right as my son Mister Grayson." Irina's tone was pure ice for all that she maintained an entirely pleasant expression on her face.

"That seems more like something Jason should be doing as your fiancée." Dick's expression implied a distinct distaste at both her words and Damian's actions. 

"I think you'll find that our culture and practices are rather different from your own Dick, I had expected a man of your background to be more open to cultural diversity." The dig at Dick's Romani background, and the open disdain he'd faced in Gotham's high society because of it did not improve Dick's attitude, but it did shut him up.

The clear dismissal in Irina's tone as she returned to her meal set both Dick and Bruce on edge. Especially since Damian was clearly included in the royal we she'd used when describing cultural differences, a description that Damian had not chosen to contest in any way.

Jason appeared to be on the verge of lashing out at Dick for the way he was treating Irina but before he could start in on Dick with a no doubt cutting remark his comm link began beeping insistently.

"Arsenal to Little Red Riding Hood"

"Fuck off Hawkeye, what do you want?" 

"Hey Hawkeye's a badass babe, so screw your shitty attempt to make me feel bad. And I need your tender love and affection jaybird, but I guess I could survive on your thick coc-"

Irina cut him off before he could finish that illuminating statement. "Roy you're on speaker with the all the bats."

"Fuck Ri warn a guy before he makes with the stunning sexual innuendo."

"It's not innuendo if you're explicitly describing sexual acts dumbass." Jason was managing to look both irritated and mildly embarrassed.

"Fine, fine ruin my fun, I'll get to the point, Jay we need you off world."

"How long?"

"Three weeks."

"I can't."

"Why the hell not?!"

"Rina and I just moved into the manor today and besides you know she's pregnant I don't want to leave her defenseless."

"Dude last time we all went out Rina put Lobo through a wall, then decapitated him and stuck his head on a spike, while naked. I don't think she needs protection, besides wasn't the whole point of you guys living in the manor that she'd be safe and sound while you're off world."

"That is not the point. I'm not abandoning Rina and our kids to go play hero."

Irina plucked the comm out of Jason's hands while he was distracted. "Roy beam our husband up in five, Red Queen out." 

"Rina-" Jason started, his tone was frustrated and more than a little pissed.

"Jay," Irina cut him off her tone clearly warning him to stand down, "Baby I love you, but your making me insane. You've been paranoid, obsessive, possessive, increasingly psychotic, neurotic and maddeningly over-protective, I cant live like this. I need space, and you know that, its why we work so well. If you keep this paranoid, obsessive focus up for much longer I will eventually crack and slit your throat in your sleep. And then someday I'll have to explain to our children why mommy killed daddy and yes that is why mommy's in jail, and who is going to raise our children then." Her voice held as much amusement as it did legitimate frustration.

"Rina, I can't just leave, if something happened, if you-" Jason cut himself off, whether he was unable or simply unwilling to continue in front of his family was anyone's guess.

"The deal was that I would live in the manor and only leave with an escort if you started going back on ops. I love you, but you need this, you need time spent focusing on something other than fortification, baby books, everything that could go wrong with this pregnancy and eliminating our enemies."

"Ri-"

"No. Enough Jason, you're going to go on this mission, your going to travel to new and exotic planets, kill awful people, fuck Roy and Kory for a solid week until your head is back on straight, and then you're going to come home to me drenched in the blood of our enemies and fuck me into unconsciousness because we both need it." After that statement of fact, (alarming to everyone but Jason) Irina wasted no time in hauling Jason up on his feet, (knocking her chair over in the process,) flinging her arms around his neck and all but assaulting his mouth before releasing him.

"Rina," Jason's speech suddenly seemed slurred as he stumbled towards her, "what did you do?" Irina caught him as he started to fall and eased them both down to the floor. 

"Sedative in my lipstick, it was a gift from Ra's. I'll see you in three weeks my love." she smiled softly down at him before taking a comm device from the table, "One to beam up Roy."

"He's gonna be pissed when he wakes up Ri."

"He'll be less pissed if he wakes up with either you or Kori riding him."

Roy sighed heavily "Kori's firmly onboard with that plan, can't say I'm opposed either it's been a while since Jay let loose enough to actually play. You have his bags packed?"

"I tagged them, the transporter should be able to pick up the signature."

"Don't suppose I can talk you into joining us?"

"Don't tempt me, Jason would actually combust if I was on mission with you guys, besides I told Kori and I'm telling you no sex until her pheromones stop making the babies spontaneously duplicate."

"I only wish for us to be a family sister. There is much honor in bearing children, surely four would be better than two?" Kori came on the line sounding both hopeful and longing.

"Next pregnancy we can try for four my love but it is better to start small and build."

"We will have an army of children, born to be the next great warriors!" Irina smiled warmly at Kori's happy cry. "Next time perhaps you will conceive our children with Roy, they would have the most beautiful red hair."

"Perhaps Koriand'r, Roy beam Jay up please, I'll see you in three weeks."

"Beaming up now."

"Oh and Roy, I laced the sedative with an aphrodisiac, so have fun."

"Oh Ri you do give the best gifts, when does it wear off?"

"The effects should last for three days, four at most and since you won't be arriving at the destination for five that should give you sufficient down time."

"God he's going to be exhausting."

"Insatiable, I packed you a dose as well, left pocket red duffle with the guns."

"Thanks lover we'll send him home so overdosed on sex and war you'll do nothing but fuck for a week."

"One does hope Roy. Red Queen signing off."

"Arsenal out."

Without any further discourse Jason shimmered and disappeared, presumably to wherever Roy and Kori's ship was, which finally shook the room out of their collective shock. Even Bruce seemed frozen. Irina settled gracefully back into her chair (which Damian had righted from its position on the ground) before turning back to Damian to continue their conversation in what sounded like a jumble of Arabic, Hindi, Urdu, and Polish. Bruce managed to recover from his shock first, apart from Damian who was apparently accustomed to the way Irina handled things.

"Did you just drug my son and send him off world without his consent."

"Yes."

"What the hell gives you the right!" Bruce thundered rising from the table so quickly his chair all but shot backwards. 

"I am his betrothed, and I am the tactical lead for the Outlaws, I have every right." Irina stated calmly.

"You drugged him."

"It was not the first time I've drugged him and I very much doubt it will be the last."

"You are not worried he will be," Cassandra paused as if tasting the word "Pissed?"

"He'll be pissed until he's had at least three orgasms, and when he comes home we'll fuck out any latent rage he doesn't manage to satiate with Kori, Roy, and mass murder of tyrannical aliens. At which point we will settle comfortably back into our lives here."

Dick looked ready to explode with outrage, Bruce looked more agitated than he did while dealing with Oliver Queen, Damian seemed remarkably unfazed and Tim was blanking his emotions with such brutal efficiency that he appeared to be sedated, but it was Cassandra who took the wind out of everyone's sails with one question.

"Fuck?" asked in the tone that implied she did not understand the context that the word was used in and would like it to be explained.

The room re-froze, as all the men in the room turned to look at Cass in undeniable horror. It was (unsurprisingly) Irina who answered.

"Fuck in that context means to have sex, usually fast and hard."

Cass tilted her head as she processed the new information. "I... would like to see the way you, Fuck."

Irina threw back her head laughing openly with a great deal of pleasure at Cass's blunt statement, "You will always be welcome in my bed Cassandra."

Cass accepted Irina's response with a nod and returned to her meal.

No one quite knew how to respond to that but Bruce had every intention of trying. "How would Jason feel about you inviting his sister to bed?" 

"Jason and I are open, Kori and Roy are the other half of our relationship but they are not the only people who frequent our bed." 

"The four of you are together?" Dick asked.

"Technically speaking Kori and I are married and Jay and Roy are our love slaves. But we don't particularly hold to Tamarean culture so we look at it as Kori and I being married and Jay and Roy being married."

"But I thought you and Jason are engaged?" Dick immediately shot back with no small degree of alarm.

"Jason and I will be married in the western tradition and in a League ceremony, Roy and Kori are already married by American law."

"Jason claimed that you had left the League." Bruce's question sounded more like a statement, his tone implied retribution for lies told.

"I no longer live under the League's jurisdiction but that does not mean that I have refuted all of their," Irina paused contemplating the word to use, "traditions."

"A League wedding Ama?"

"Yes little one, Jason has already agreed to it."

Damian accepted the answer with ease before turning to Bruce, "Father you should sit looming from the opposite end of the table is inefficient, Todd is off world and his state is clearly not unusual I trust Ama to have only used the necessary dosage of the sedative."

Bruce looked nearly apoplectic but reluctantly resumed his seat after a pointed look from Alfred. He questioned whether Cass had felt he was a threat to Irina as her posture relaxed after he returned to his seat. Tim seemed to shake off his emotional blanking and return to active consciousness, turning to quietly converse with Cass. Dick however was clearly unwilling to let any of the previous exchange go, clearly forgetting what Alfred had told them about not making Damian feel as if he had to take sides.

"Dami, she just drugged our brother and sent him off world without his consent I might add, how can you possibly think that that's ok?" Dick sounded bewildered and pained clearly unable to understand why Damian, who he'd trained for so long, his little brother, could suddenly flip a switch and alter his morality so drastically.

Damian stiffened before turning away from Irina, "I trust Ama to act in the best interest of our family, even if those actions are distasteful or excessive to you or Father, they are not distasteful to me. they are the actions of a leader who will do what is necessary for her people even if it is uncomfortable. Perhaps you should learn how to better serve your family Grayson and such things would not be necessary."

Everyone at the table very clearly heard the proverbial lines being drawn in the sand, how already when Damian used the words our family it was in reference to Irina and possibly Jason, and your family when speaking about the rest of the table. Bruce's grip on his wine glass tightened as he silently willed Dick not to push any further. 

Tim sensing that anything further from Dick was only going to be damaging to Damian's relationship with the family intervened. "Have you decided on the theme for your eighteenth birthday party Damian?" It was an abrupt change of topics, considering Tim usually preferred a more subtle approach but it did the job of startling everyone into a new train of thought quite nicely.

"I thought something celebrating both sides of my heritage would be suitable for my public ascension into adulthood, as I am of both Western and Middle-Eastern descent." He paused before turning towards Irina once again, "Ama?" Damian hesitated before continuing onward. "Abba is holding a gala for my eighteenth birthday and I need to be fitted for a new suit, I thought that perhaps you could take me-"

"Tt don't be ridiculous Dami," Irina interrupted, Damian immediately shuttered his expression and all but shrunk back into the chair. "You'll need at least three suits for your gala, one for your entrance, one for dinner, and one for dancing, I'll call my tailor and we can go in the morning, I'll tell him we need you to look every inch the prince that you are habibi, bold colors will suit you, perhaps something more in the Indian style. We can make a day of it like we did in Mumbai when you were little, you always picked the most exquisite pieces for me to wear." Irina brushed the backs of her fingers against his cheek softly as she had since he was born the motion soothing the pieces of him still tensed from Dick's comments, Damian was practically glowing with her easy praise, without ever looking away from him she could sense Bruce's tension and displeasure at being excluded from his son's company. "Perhaps Abba could join us for the fitting?"

"Ab-" Damian cut himself off, "Father only wears black suits." his tone was flat clearly expecting Bruce to want no part in their day, perhaps Bruce worried not wanting him there at all.

Before Bruce could respond Dick interrupted. "I could use a new suit babybat." Dick's tone was hopeful and tentative clearly having decided that making peace was the better part of valor.

Damian cut Dick off at the knees without so much as a glance in his direction. "Tt you acquired three new suits just last month Grayson. Unless you've already destroyed them you will not need a new one for the gala."

Dick's expression immediately dropped taking the dismissal for precisely what it was. 

Bruce chose that moment to step in "I would like to attend the fitting if you'll allow it, I admit that I have never preferred colored suits but for your eighteenth birthday I am inclined to make an exception, I trust that your Ama's taste will be quite suitable and I'd like for us to present a united front at the gala." His delivery was admittedly stiff but it was also honest.

Far more honest than Damian was expecting if his expression was anything to go by, Damian blinked rapidly several times before replying. "That would be acceptable Father, I would like for the three of us to enter together, as... as a family. Ama will you have designs drawn up that link us together?"

"I think it would be best for you to speak to the designer yourself little one, that way he can construct what I'll be wearing to your exact specifications." 

"That would be preferable Ama, will he be ready for us by tomorrow?"

"He owes me a great many favors, I'll ask him to close up shop for us tomorrow so that we have all the time we need."

"Alfred." Bruce called. 

"Yes Master Bruce?"

"Cancel all my appointments for tomorrow I will be occupied for the day."

"Yes Master Bruce." there was no mistaking the mild approval in Alfred's tone at his decision.

Sighing softly Irina asked Damian. "Perhaps your siblings could join us for lunch tomorrow? I'll need a rest mid-day before we see the jewelers."

Damian seemed torn between wanting to keep Irina to himself and wanting to show his siblings that his mother was wonderful and that they should accept her. "If you think it's best Ama, then I take no issue with their attendance, so long as they are respectful of you." The last provision clearly aimed at Dick's behavior. "Why will we be visiting the jeweler Ama?"

"You are a prince little one, you will need cufflinks, tie-pins, and other adornments for the gala. I was also functioning under the assumption that you would wish to bedeck me in jewels as you did when you were little, was I mistaken?

"You were not Ama, although I think your use of bedecked is excessive."

Irina laughed softly "Dami the last time you dressed me for an event Ra's described me as dripping in jewels," Damian blushed at her reminder, "He adored it, which reminds me, before we visit the jeweler we should look over the pieces and sets that Ra's ordered for me and see if any of it is to your taste."

Damian hesitated, unsure of whether his next statement would be overstepping. "I would prefer to order custom pieces for you myself Ama."

"As you wish little one." 

Damian relaxed at her easy acceptance of his desire to stake a claim. He quietly hoped that he would be allowed to choose her everyday clothes as well as the gowns for the gala as he had when he was young. It had always felt like her acceptance of the clothes and jewels he chose for her was indicative of her acceptance of him.

"I think it would be best for me to retire for the afternoon, carrying my daughters and this move seem to have exhausted me."

Alfred appeared, seemingly out of thing air, "Of course Miss Irina let me show you to your room upstairs."

"There's no need Alfred I can show Ama to her room, you told me which suite you had placed her and Todd's things in."

"Very well Master Damian, will you be rejoining us after showing Miss Irina to her room?"

"No, I would like to watch over Ama while she rests, if that is acceptable." Damian asked turning to Irina.

"It is perfectly acceptable Dami. If you'll excuse me everyone."

"Of course Irina do you need anything." Bruce asked.

"Just somewhere to lay down for a little bit, but jasmine tea would be lovely if it is readily available Mister Pennyworth, perhaps around two o'clock?"

Of course Miss Irina and please call me Alfred."

"Very well, thank you Alfred." Turning to Damian, Irina grasped his proffered arm and they glided soundlessly from the dining room. 

 "Well, that was illuminating." Tim said quietly, "They seem utterly attuned to each others desires and needs, if they're that inexorably linked after eight years I'm almost afraid to think what they'll be like after they've reacclimated and learned each other in depth."

"She did seem oddly calm about Damian wanting to choose every article of clothing and jewelry she'll be wearing to the gala." Bruce commented, "Usually he doesn't request or attempt to exert that much control or possession outside of an op." Bruce quietly wondered whether a relationship that allowed him to do so was entirely healthy.

"Her comments about it being his _right_ as her son to choose her food, to choose how to dress her were a little..." Tim trailed off.

"Disturbing." Dick stated, "Totally disturbing, it's not healthy for him to want that or for her to allow that, that's textbook abusive, and controlling behavior."

"Which one of them is supposed to be the abuser in that little scenario Dick? Damian or Irina." Tim asked. "Because it's pretty obvious that while she encourages the behavior, he's the one who wants to control her."

"Not about control. About claim, why he didn't want her wearing Ra's jewels. He is claiming her, could see him wanting..." Cass paused to search for the words she needed. "Wanting to own and protect her. If he chooses now it will be her." 

Bruce suppressed a shiver of unease that Cass's calm statements inspired, had this always been something Damian needed and never voiced or was it Her that drew it out of him, made him darker? "Damian was unfazed by the fact that she drugged Jason and defended her decision. We need to be smart about this, learn more about her and keep Damian close." In the privacy of his own mind he feared that Irina would take not one but two of his son's from him.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow this chapter took a lot out of me, I hope it was everything you guys wanted it to be. I have already started the net chapter and I'm going to try to updated by next Sunday. I'm planning to really flesh out Damian and Irina's relationship in the next chapter as well as both of their relationships with Bruce. Jason in only going to be gone this chapter and there'll be a short chapter after the next that fleshes out his relationship with Roy and Kori (and has the first smut of the story) any advice or constructive criticism would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for reading this and if you've read my other story which is also a jason and OFC fic (which is much darker than this) I'm planning to update that by next Sunday too.


	4. The Love and Darkness of Damian Wayne

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Trigger Warning! graphic depiction of violence, torture and death of a pregnant woman it's in a dream and very short but it's a vivid description if its going upset you stop reading at the double astrics ** and resume reading after the ending **
> 
> This chapter really focuses on Damian and Irina's relationship and ends with Bruce gaining a further insight into their relationship.

"Does this room suit you Ama?"

"It will suit well enough for now Damian." Irina perched on the stool in front of the mahogany vanity against the far wall, "Help me with my things little one, I would like to rest now."

"Of course Ama," Damian knelt to remove the boots she was wearing before rising to remove her jewelry.

Irina waved him away, "Go into my trunks and find me something to wear to bed and after I wake little prince, I can handle undressing myself."

Damian turned to the stack of trunks in the far corner of the room waiting to be unpacked, in the first trunk boxes of jewelry sets were neatly packed, and in the second was ornate weaponry clearly presented to Ama as a wedding gift or perhaps in this case a pregnancy gift, knowing grandfather he would feel weaponry was a suitable gift for an expectant mother. Finally in the third trunk Damian found many of the sari's and lehengas he'd chosen for her during their time in Mumbai, neatly arranged in a teak wood box atop the folded clothes were the antique silver and ivory hair brush, mirror, and comb he'd insisted on buying for her on his ninth birthday.

Shaking off the memories Damian chose a dark green and gold sari for her to wear when she dressed after her nap and a long flowing white silk nightgown that she had preferred on hot summer nights. bringing over the nightgown and brush set he draped the gown over the gilded dressing screen and placed the brush set on her vanity. "Ama," he hesitated feeling ridiculous for wanting to ask.

"Yes Dami."

"Could I-" cutting himself off seemed like the right decision, he was nearly eighteen wanting to be held like a child was ridiculous. "Never mind it was nothing."

Irina emerged from behind the screen the white silk clinging to her body emphasizing were her stomach had started to expand with the pregnancy, "Come to bed little one, I hate sleeping alone." 

Damian felt awkward climbing into the bed next to her, he was an adult, he shouldn't need this sort of thing anymore, shouldn't want it. If father saw him lying in bed with her would he think it was wrong? "Ama, do you think its wrong that I want to sleep here with you?"

"You are my son Damian, unless you want to have sex with me there is nothing wrong with wishing to lie with me and rest."

Damian reared back at the thought, "Ama!" 

"You've been in the west to long little one, how puritanical you've become." there was a great deal of laughter in her voice.

"I am not puritanical."

"No? then tell me about the last time you had sex, how was it? were they good to you? did you love them?"

"I don't wish to discuss that."

"Because you feel it is wrong because I am your mother, or because you have not yet had sex."

"I.... I'm afraid to have sex." there, he'd said it, admitted something he'd never been comfortable telling his father or Dick. 

"Why on earth are you afraid of sex little one, God knows that you saw enough sex in the League, enough of me having sex to know its perfectly natural."

"I'm afraid I'd want sex the way it was done in the League."

"Ah, you want the violence and power, the dominance fights, and the blood. You're afraid that there isn't room for love or softness in the passion you grew up with."

Damian let out a sigh of relief at hearing her voice everything he wanted and feared. "Yes, if I was with someone I loved I'd want them to be happy, but what if I can only become... aroused with violence."

"Then you will find people to love who enjoy the taste of blood on their tongues during a good fuck just as much as you do."

"Is that how it is with Todd?"

"Sometimes, he taught me to enjoy a soft touch, I still prefer pain with my pleasure but that does not mean I cannot become aroused with soft, warm passions, it simply means it is not my first choice. Now come and sleep little one, it has been to long since I have held you in my arms." 

Even when Damian had been very young he understood that Ama was delicate, petite even, despite knowing that nothing short of a god could kill her, being pulled firmly against her body meant accepting the fact that he had, at least physically outgrown her. She was at most 5'5 and as delicately built as a doll, he would understand Todd's inclination to hide her away in the manor had he not grown up watching her fight and kill with ease. Soon enough Damian found himself slipping into unconsciousness as her fingers carded through his hair, while her other hand traced patterns atop his where it rested on her stomach.

 

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

When Damian woke gasping rough sobs from a nightmare ugly enough that his cheeks felt wet, Ama was already murmuring soft words into his hair and rubbing circles against his back it took several moments for his brain to process safe, alive, home, and realize it had only been a dream. The realization did nothing to stop him clutching her body against his fiercely as if by holding her there he could protect her from any enemy. 

"What did you see little one?" Even when Damian had been young it was exceptionally rare for his nightmares to be bad enough to wake him, let alone bring him to tears, but when they had the dreams were always so vivid and lifelike that it took time for him to come back to reality.

"I saw you-" cut off by a series of shuddering gasps Damian tried to calm his breathing, to find the words.

"Shh Dami, just show me." Grasping the back of his neck with her right hand she established the psychic link between them, it was her turn to gasp at the images in his head as he opened his mind to her. 

*******

It was like watching a horror movie, seeing her body sprawled out on one of the Persians in this very bedroom, blood dried in a path from the corner of her mouth, her neck clearly snapped, face frozen in a wordless scream, her stomach slit wide, a gaping wound, her daughters, torn from her body, lying dead on the floor. But when she turned to take in the rest of the scene her heart stopped. Damian chained to the wall, tearing the skin around his wrists and neck where he was shackled as he strained to get to her body, screaming soundlessly, alternating between begging her to wake up and begging to die with her. 

*******

Pulling them both from the dream took more effort than she would have liked, clutching him to her and promising to never leave him, took less. 

"Look at me Damian, Damian! Look. At. Me. your sisters are safe within me, I am safe, here with you. You and Jason and Cassandra would never let that happen, I would kill anyone who came close enough to us to try. Ra's would resurrect me and your sisters, even if we die, we will live again."

"If you leave I can't protect you."

"If I ever have to leave I will take you with me, I will never send you away, or leave you willingly, I will never allow you to be taken from me again. I will kill anyone who tries."

Damian looked at her trying to parse if there were any lies within that statement, once he was confident that there were not he asked for one thing. "Swear to me in the old ways that you will allow me to be your hand."

Her eyes were startled and pleased, warm in the best ways. "Go and choose one of the ceremonial daggers." Damian slipped from the bed over to the trunks and brought back a tapered dark steel filigreed blade with a black and bronze handle. 

"A good blade tempered in blood and wrought nearly five hundred years ago at the beginning of your grandfathers reign. You chose well my love." She took the dagger with practiced movements and placed the tip just beneath the center of her left collarbone. "With this oath I name you hand, and take you as my heir, and with my blood I bind it." a quick flick of the wrist and blood spilled down her chest from the neat horizontal line she had cut. Damian leaned in to drink it. 

Knowing it was his turn he straightened. unbuttoning the shirt he had slept in, placing the dagger's tip under his left collarbone. "With this oath I swear fealty to you in perpetuum, and with my blood I bind it." a controlled slash created a thick vertical line starting just under his collarbone and reaching down his left pectoral nearly three inches, Irina leaned in to drink the blood that spilled from his chest. 

In unison they both completed the oath. "And with this blood, we've shared between, I make to you this oath, I bind myself to thee in this life and the next." With the vow made Damian felt more at peace than he had in years and he could see the same peace in his mothers eyes.

"We should clean up before anyone comes up to fetch us for dinner, they already disapprove of me enough, if they think I'm encouraging you to self mutilate they'll throw me from the house."

Taking her hand to help her down from the bed Damian stilled her with a hand against her waist. "If they send you away I will go with you." 

"I know. Now help me dress, sari's are dreadful to pin by oneself."

"Yes Ama."

 

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Dinner was a quiet affair with everyone assuming the seats they had taken at lunch save Cass who sat on Irina's left, taking Jason's spot. No one except Cass noticed the bandage along the width of Irina's collarbone artfully hidden by the draping of the sari, or the way that every so often Damian would rub the fingers of his right hand absentmindedly in a long line just above his heart. Discussion was at a minimum and kept to topics typically saved for public Gala's. All in all it was a quiet affair. Irina asked what sort of training Damian had been doing, Dick managed to tamp down on his jealousy long enough to ask when she was due, and had they thought about names yet (five months and no they hadn't discussed names yet, although she had some ideas, thank you for asking.) 

Bruce broke the tenuous agreement to stick only to small talk. "When did you leave the League Irina?"

Damian stiffened and an actual clatter of dishes could be heard from the kitchen where Alfred was preparing the next course. "Unofficially I left the League four years ago when I came to Gotham, but I've only been officially separated for the past six months, Ra's was quite amenable to my stepping down from the elite, once he learned Jason and I were trying to conceive."

"But your still in contact with Ra's."

"Of course, we're family." Irina could hear Bruce grinding his teeth at the other end of the table, it sounded like glass under heavy boots.

"I see. And will Ra's be involved with... my grandchildren."

"He will be involved as Jason and I see fit. But he will not have a hand in raising them."

Bruce gave a nod of understanding, but from the set of his shoulders it was clear he would have liked to argue Ra's involvement in any capacity. 

They managed to make it through the final two courses without incident, until Irina rose from her chair. "If you'll excuse me it's a beautiful evening, and I'd like to take a walk on the grounds, would you care to join me Bruce?"

Bruce actively startled before answering. "Of course."

"Ama?" Damian's tone was both questioning and concerned, "Perhaps I could join you."

"We'll be fine little one I merely want to speak with Abba about arrangements for tomorrow."

Damian still looked hesitant but sensed there was no room to argue with her statement. "Yes Ama."

Bruce came to the head of the table offering his arm to Irina which she accepted willingly before they departed from the dining room.

Once they'd been outside for several minutes Irina started the conversation. "I have no desire to take your sons from you, I want you to know that."

"Thank you." Bruce rumbled out, after a pause to process that information.

"But if you allow your jealousy and fear to rule you and send me away you won't just lose Jason you'll lose Damian as well."

Bruce paused to look at her she gave him a moment to openly scrutinize her expression before pulling him along. He'd been unsure of just how many of Clark's powers had transferred to her, clearly super strength was one of them.

"Damian and Cassandra are watching us from the library, Dick is observing us from the study and Tim has a perfectly clear view of us from his room, Alfred is almost certainly utilizing the cameras located on the grounds to keep a watchful eye and ensure that we are both behaving so do try to appear natural Mister Wayne."

"As you say Miss..."

"Todd, I don't have a last name that isn't an alias, I use Jason's when one is required of me."

"Then until such time as you are married I will call you Irina if that is acceptable."

"It is."

"How will I lose them."

"Jason has only ever asked you for one thing not related to the mission since he came back from the dead, he asked you to protect me. Not that I need it, but it brings him peace to have me here and so I will remain within the confines of the manor when one of you can not accompany me. If you send me away he will never forgive you, and you will never know your grandchildren. I will go to Ra's if you do not want me here as I would have preferred to do from the start, and Damian will go with me. I will not ask it of him but he will follow nonetheless."

"You seem quite certain of that."

"Talia tore him away from me when he was ten years old, I can still hear him screaming for me when I dream. She stopped being anything other than a genetic donor to him in that moment, he never forgave her and he certainly never trusted her again. You've raised him to believe family is everything, if you send me away while I am pregnant with his sisters, when already he is having nightmares of watching them be torn from my body and seeing us killed in front of him, he won't trust you anymore because you'll be just like Talia, sending his family away and forcing him to be alone. You'll wake up one morning and he'll be gone without a word. 

"You might be able to earn his trust back one day but the odds of that are slim, Damian is endlessly protective, he'll want to stay with me once his sisters are born, to protect them, to train them. How long do you think it will be before he feels comfortable leaving them on their own? Ten years?... Twenty? 

"But if you choose to set aside your anger and fear that they want and love me more than they want or love you than you'll be able to keep them close for a decade or more."

"Jason only asked for you to stay here through your pregnancy."

"If you had two infant children would you want to raise them in the heart of Gotham with a dealer on every corner and the threat of rogue attacks near constant or in what is one of the safest places on this planet? Jason will ask you to let us stay until they're perhaps a year old maybe two. But the more in love he falls with them the longer he'll want to keep them safe and so the longer he'll want to stay here. I don't really see him feeling comfortable living in the city until they're vigilantes in their own right. Do you?"

"I suppose if I allowed myself to hope that he would trust me enough to be involved with his children then it would be no great leap to see him wanting to keep them in the manor."

"Jason wants his family back Bruce. I'm an empath, so believe me when I tell you that when I agreed to live in the manor he felt so happy he nearly glowed."

"Damian will stay for his sisters, to protect and train them, to help me raise them, he won't want to leave my side for anything less than an intergalactic war, if we stay in the manor then so will he. As, I suspect will Cass if the way she reacted to my pregnancy is any indication. Dick will want to teach and love and cuddle his nieces into submission and that will keep him close and perhaps give he and Barbara the push they need to have children of their own."

"And Tim?"

"Tim is your heir, he may travel with his team but he will always come back to Gotham."

"You see Tim as my heir?"

"Jason would never take it, Dick nearly broke under the weight of the cowl, Ms Gordon was never a true contender, and the only reason that Damian and Cassandra do not kill is because it upsets you and you know it. How long that will actually keep them from killing if it comes to protecting this family is entirely debatable. In the end Tim is the only one strong enough, damaged enough and dark enough to wear the cowl and lead the Justice League.

"You seem quite certain of all of this."

"It's not difficult to see if you would only look B."

"You do not think that Tim will kill?"

"He will, of that I have no doubt. There's a reason Ra's wanted Tim as his heir, and its not because he radiates sunshine and goodness, Tim lives in the gray, just as I do. When he kills he'll do it quietly and it will never be attributed to the Bat. In the end that is what matters most to the public, the appearance of correctness, a pretty lie that they'll gladly swallow for the sake of their collective sanity."

"The police-"

"Are quietly grateful every time Jason drops a crime-lord. They might publicly condemn him but you can't tell me Gordon wasn't privately pleased and relieved when Jason crucified the joker and forced a crowbar through his chest." 

"I would prefer not to discuss that."

"Very well. What do you wish to discuss?"

"At tomorrow's fittings, do you truly intend to allow Damian to dress you?"

"Damian has exquisite taste and if it brings him peace and happiness to dress me in silks and drown me in jewels than I will gladly indulge him."

"You don't think that it's encouraging unhealthy behaviors to 'indulge' him in this way."

"I think that Damian's darker aspects are making you nervous. I think that your wondering if the desire to possess and own someone has always been in him and you've missed it or if I'm drawing it out of him and I know your hoping for the latter. But the fact is, that Damian has always adored dressing me, the act of choosing my clothes, shoes, jewels, weapons and hairstyles has always contented him."

"It's an unacceptably controlling behavior."

"It's not about control, it's about providing for me, for his family. You're frightened that he'll choose me because I can give him things that you can't. His darkness frightens you, and he knows it. I embrace his darkness, I love every inch of him, his passions, his cruelty, his love, his possessiveness. He's my son, and I will give him everything he needs to thrive and if that means allowing him to dress me and stand at my side to face the world, then so be it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow this was literally supposed to be written and posted a month ago. I've been working forty hour weeks and I've honestly tried to sit down and finish this chapter six times and it just finally came together tonight. Thank you to everyone who has left kudos and bookmarked this work it's really encouraging.


	5. Adventures in Dress Fittings

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so I lied the next chapter will be Jay/Roy/Kory interacting and having hot sex and this chapter was more world building and secrets coming to light. I personally love writing Damian, Bruce, and Irina interactions because it opens up Damian's character so much more. I read so many stories where Damian is the villain and I think a lot of that stems from his league background and the fact that his familial ties are only ever really demonstrated with Dick and Bruce. I'm writing everyone but Dick and Bruce as really morally grey because in my opinion they're the only ones firmly in the light. Not that I don't think that Dick has a dark side but it manifests very differently and the lines he's drawn in the sand about what's morally acceptable and what isn't are so much more defined than anyone except Bruce.

Bruce was waiting by the front door at five till eight, Damian had been very clear that they would be leaving at eight o'clock sharp with or without him "Ama does not appreciate being made late." was Damian's parting shot as he exited the cave after patrol the night before.

Patrol was an uncomfortable topic at the moment. Damian had refused to patrol with Dick, Dick silently fumed, Tim refused to patrol with either of them and said he'd be working an op for Oracle if anyone needed him before swiftly departing the tension riddled cave. Cass took Damian by the scruff and dragged him onto her bike without a word and had only called in once to say that a gang war had gotten particularly bloody after Damian had pulled a pair of black kindjal blades and dismantled the fight.

Dick's every word dripped with acidic resentment, towards Jason for bringing Irina into their lives, Bruce for allowing her presence and towards his own rapidly rising fear that Damian would choose Irina over their family.

Needless to say it had not been the release of tension he had been hoping for. Consumed by thoughts of his children he had lost track of time only to check his watch and find that it was seven after eight. Irina did not arrive downstairs until ten after eight with Damian, scowl firmly in place, at her side.

The car ride to the tailor was uncomfortably quiet save for the occasional directions Irina was issuing to Alfred as he drove through the city. When they arrived at the shop it was in the seedier part of town, Irina calmly lead them down a dark narrow alley to a steel door with tailor painted onto it in Arabic. She rapped her knuckles against the door three times before stepping back.

A young woman perhaps seventeen years old opened the door and bowed deeply to first Irina and then Damian then stepped quickly back into the candlelight room. A rotund little man came skittering out from a back room bowing so low to Irina it appeared as if his hand might scrape across the floor as he extended it outward in a formal bow.

When he began to speak his voice came out sounding high and reedy. "Mistress Al-Ghul it is a great honor to serve you once again, how may I be of aid to you?"

"My son needs clothes that suit his station for his coming of age ceremony at least three outfits, which I want done in full regalia, we will be staying in the realm of sherwani and dhoti kurta and my son will specify his design requirements for my wardrobe. Kadir, spare no expense and stick to jewel tones the pastels were a catastrophe with my hair." turning to sink onto a velvet couch Irina started to wave a hand in dismissal before pausing to add, almost as an afterthought, "Damian's father will need suits in the same palette with traditional stitching but in the western style."

Bruce felt vaguely nauseous, Mistress Al-Ghul, that was a title reserved for the daughters of the demon's head. Had killing Talia secured her that consideration? Even Damian looked oddly surprised, Irina clearly sensing their confusion flicked her fingers through the air before calmly stating "Leave us."

The tailor, Kadir, bustled out of the room after a low bow to Irina and three quick steps backwards, leaving the Wayne contingent in silence.

"You have questions, ask them."

"I thought Mistress was typically the address of Ra's daughters?" Bruce questioned.

"It is."

"Then how precisely did you come to be given this title."

"When Talia took Damian to live with you, Ra's became... concerned with the permanence of my ties to the League. He felt the easiest way to cement my ties to him and the League was with a marriage."

Bruce felt his blood run cold, "Do you mean to say that you and Ra's are married?"

"Don't be absurd! Ra's raised me he's practically my father certainly he considers himself so. No, Nyssa and I were wed a bare three months after Damian's removal from my care."

"You married Aunt Nyssa!?"

"It seemed the logical choice at the time."

"Are you and Nyssa still bound Ama?"

"League marriages as you well know little one are binding in perpetuity. Ra's does not believe in divorce. Nyssa will stand for me at my wedding to your brother as she has consented to my taking him as first consort. Just as I stood for her at her marriage to Sara Lance."

"I see." Bruce's voice was tight, with barely controlled anger.

"No, you don't. I do not imagine that you ever will." easing back into the chair she turned to Damian. "You should go and speak to Kabir about the designs for the gala little one, I trust that what you choose will suit me. You and Bruce will need to be measured, as will I but first I need to rest moje kochanie."

"As you say Ama." after a meaningful look directed at Bruce, Damian departed to Kabir's office.

"Do you love Nyssa?"

"We were raised together... I love her as a sister who has on occasion shared my bed. I don't not care for her as my wife, but Nyssa and I are bound by blood in more ways than one, she stood with me against Talia and I will always respect her for that."

"You would make Jason your second."

"I will not apologize for loving him, I will not apologize for my history with the League, I will do whatever it takes to protect my family consequences be damned. Let the world burn so long as they live! I will relish in their screams."

"What happens to the people standing in your way?" (what if I oppose you) "Will you kill anyone who disagrees with you?"

"Disagreement and opposition are two different things Bruce. To protect my family I will do whatever is necessary, no matter the cost. We will never agree on how far is too far when it comes to protecting our family, if we did Jason and Damian wouldn't have died under your care."

Bruce fell back into the couch from where he'd been leaning towards Irina, for once showing all forty-two years of his age. "I did everything I-"

"This is not the time to discuss it,' Irina cut him off before he could continue. "Damian wants us to be a family more than anything, so I suggest that we set aside our differences and try to co-parent and support him."

"Ama I finished the designs they need us to come back and take measurements now." Damian looked nervous his eyes flitting between Bruce and Irina, clearly sensing the tension between his parents.

Bruce rose first helping Irina to her feet, "You are Damian's mother I will do my best to control my opinions, for the sake of my sons and my grandchildren."

"You're their father, and my daughter’s grandfather, that makes us family I may not agree with your choices, but I will choose to stand with you and yours when it comes to it."

"You will have my support as well."

"We should go, Damian isn't exactly patient."

"He gets that from you."

"Now that is wishful thinking if I ever heard it."

 

\-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

The drive to lunch was quiet, but considerably less tense that the morning's ride had been and really that was all anyone could ask. Damian had (to Bruce's eternal dismay) chosen every article of clothing that Irina would be wearing at the gala, each decision made with care from the color, to the stitching, all the way down to the cut.

Irina had made an appointment with a jeweler at three for Damian to choose which pieces she would be wearing. Bruce, Damian and Irina would be coordinated in color and accessories from head to toe.

They arrived at L'arcane five minutes late which unfortunately meant that Dick, Barbara, Tim and Cass had already arrived and been seated. there had been paparazzi outside when they had arrived, bruce had gotten out of the car first before drawing Irina out after him, damian quickly following meant that Irina walked into the restaurant firmly situated between father and son. Damian was enraged by the ambush (as usual) but Irina rose above looking politely amused and just short of bored with the paps attempts to get a rise out of the family.

Arriving inside the restaurant was regrettably just as dramatic as their entrance from the car. Bruce decided to be grteful that the coat Irina was wearing covered the fact that she was pregnant and that it was cold enough that a coat inside didn't look unreasonable. The last thing the family needed was a news headline declaring 'Bruce Wayne's secret shotgun wedding with mystery woman due to surprise pregnancy?!?!' Jason would actually shoot him, Damian might even help.

Damian escorted Irina into the private room that Bruce had rented for their lunch stiffening minutely when he saw that the rest of the family was already seated. Without any further hesitation he guided Irina into the chair on Cass's right before seating himself on her left.

Bruce followed shortly after having been stopped by the maître de, who wouldn't stop apologizing for the lack of forewarning about the paparazzi. He took the only remaining chair situating himself between Cass and Barbara. Dick was bracketed between Barbara and Tim with Damian acting as a secondary buffer, mercifully the table was circular which meant there was no taking sides.

Barbara was the first to break the silence that had settled over the table, introducing herself to Irina in short order. "Barbara Gordon," she extended her hand to Irina to shake.

"Irina."

'It's nice to meet you Irina."

"And you Ms Gordon."

"I've heard a great deal about you from the family."

Irina's smile was sharply reminiscent of Tim's red robin smile "Yes I imagine you have."

Barely a moment after Irina's response a veritable army of waiters descended, bringing with them four glass carafes of water, two bottles of wine, a tea tray and an array of menus.

Irina waved away her own menu with cool derision. "My son will order for me, and inform your wait staff that they are to knock before entering this room we do not appreciate the disruption of our privacy."

The now extremely pale maître de swiftly departed with a quick "Of course Madame Wayne." a short bow and a hiss at the remaining waiter's.

As the tension grew in the room Tim made the sacrifice and ventured into the breach, "How did the fitting this morning go?"

Bruce replied first, "Very well Irina's recommendations were quite tasteful and the color palette Damian selected was well suited."

Irina shot Bruce an approving look before expanding on his statement, "Damian has always had such exquisite taste, many of the pieces he chose for me while we were in India remain some of my favorites to this day. And of course the designs he has put together for the gala are meticulously ornate and the colors are perfection."

Damian practically glowed with pride. "Thank you Ama, I'm glad that you and Abba will be walking with me at the gala we will present a unified front to the public."

Dick glowered at Damian's reply.

Barbara kicked him under the table.

Before anyone else could speak a quick rap at the door drew everyone's attention.

"Enter," Bruce called. How it was that Irina had gotten a wait staff that had ignored 'Brucie's' every request that they knock before entering, to comply with a simple comment he'd never know.

An exceptionally pale-faced waiter entered the room. "Ah..are you ready to order madame e monsieur

Awe-inspiring terror, that had to be it.

Everyone ordered, save Irina who the waiter skipped entirely going directly to Damian which earned him a slight nod of approval.

Bruce wished he felt more surprised when Damian reeled off a long and complex order then flicked a hand in sharp dismissal. The waiter skittering out of the room and closing the door firmly behind him left the room in silence.

Surprisingly Cass broke the silence. "Will babies come before gala."

"It's possible, I am nearly four months along and twins do tend to come early the gala isn't for another four and a half months so on reconsideration it is probable."

"Not much time to be ready."

"No I'll start showing more shortly, the second trimester of my pregnancy with Damian I expanded with the rapidity of a balloon."

"Will you have the babies in the hospital or at the manor? After all there is a full surgical suite there." Barbara asked.

A shadow flitted over Irina's face, "I haven't decided yet."

"Oh, I didn't mean to press, have you thought about colors for the nursery?"

"Jason wants red, I think he's planning to spray paint a red hood stencil onto the wall, but I favor blue or purple, besides the children will grow up surrounded by red they needn't sleep in in it."

"What shade of blue would you pick Ama?"

A soft blush warmed her face. "The same as Jason's eyes so that they will always know that their father is with them.”

Dick looked like he was considering (non-mocking) cooing at the admission.

"How long is Jason meant to be gone?"

“It shouldn't be longer than a month, the fighting never takes long and I encouraged Kori to take the ship the long way round on the way there. Jason has been denning… the manor seemed like the most logical step to get him to stop. Do you know I found him one night actually barricading the vents, you'd be lucky to fit a rat in the vents of that apartment let alone a human."

The tone of fond exasperation in her voice as well as the story had everyone laughing.

“He was driving himself insane trying to figure out and pin down every last one of our enemies, I know you may not approve of how I sent him off world but sometimes it is necessary to do what is uncomfortable for the sake of the people we love's wellbeing.”

"Will he understand when he returns?" Bruce asked quietly.

"Perhaps, but perhaps not, he often fails to remember that I have to actively work not to injure others with my strength or that my abilities compound and play off each other leaving me without the weaknesses of their progenitors, he doesn't see my abilities or invulnerability he just sees me. There is a peace in that.”

"How old are you Irina, if you don't mind my asking," Tim asked.

Damian shot a warning look at Tim with a quick shake of his head as if to refuse the question.

Irina smiled, Bruce realized in that moment that as youthful as her appearance may be her eyes were old, older than even his.

"In truth I have forgotten, Ra's always said it didn't matter, that the League and I are one that our individual ages were irrelevant. Personally I think he was unsure as to the truth of the matter, I was born to the League and it to me. I have served a dozen Demons heads, the memories of those lives fade with time and blend together.”

She paused as if sifting through memories.

“Sometimes I look at Jay and I think God you are a child who has given you a sword and still others I know that he was born to it just as I was. I see his eyes and know that he was made for this some people are born to peace and others to war.”

“Jason wasn’t born a killer.” Dick interrupted.

“Perhaps not,” Irina demurred, “but Jay was reborn into this world with blood in his mouth and grave dirt under his nails, that sort of thing tends to leave a mark.”

The room fell quiet after her statement, the same ashen faced waiter knocked and the entered bringing trays of food. The staff sensing the mood of the room swiftly and silently placed down the food and refilled the water pitchers before slipping out of the room.

“You say that you were born to the League, what exactly does that mean?” Bruce asked.

“If I lived a life before the League I do not remember it, I asked Ra’s once when I had joined, I told him that the memories were muddled in my head. It’s one of the few times that I can remember seeing him unsettled. He told me mine was the first name ever recorded by the League, that whatever name I had possessed before my entrance was unrecorded.”

“How is that possible? I mean the league keeps immaculate records someone somewhere should know something about your life before you joined.” Tim rambled, the very idea that she was unknown even amongst the League was intriguing to say the least.

 “I have only ever been known to the League as Em Chiatin, mother of demons.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow this chapter was a bitch, I'll be honest its still not where I had wanted it to be i cut out a whole section of the chapter (But it'll be in the next damian centric chapter) it's nearly 3,000 words and it took forever and yeah just I hope you all enjoy it because its been a labor of love... and a tiny bit of hate.
> 
> Also Nyssa Al-Ghul in this story is based on the Arrowverse version of her character because that's where the majority of my knowledge of her character comes from and because it fits the storyline I am creating. The same thing will be true if I decide to write in Oliver Queen if that's going to be an issue for anybody at least you know now.  
>    
> Comments and Kudos are really appreciated since writing often feels like talking into the void. if anyone is interested in beta-reading this story hit me up.
> 
> ~SaphiraDrake


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